Plantify
Plantify is a plant-monitoring device that showcases all the contents of your plant through the assistance of a mobile application.
Duration January 2021 - April 2021 (4 months)
Team Project for UMSI’s Pervasive Interaction Design with Stephanie Brenton
Process & Tools Competitive Analysis, Interviews, Personas and Scenarios, Sketches and Storyboards, User Enactments, Paper Prototyping, Wireframes, Digital Prototyping (Figma), 3D Modeling (3DS Max), Audrino, C#
My Role As a course project, every member of our team was responsible for each step of the process as listed above. In addition to those steps, I also led the effort in creating the look of the device using 3D modeling, built a working part of the product using Audrino hardware and code, and finalized the Hi-Fi prototype.
My Team Leen Habbal, Catherine Lumanauw, and Skylar Wolcott
Overview
We did preliminary research on products that assist users in maintaining plants. Some plant assistive products exist but many do not appear to monitor many different plant conditions. We wanted to find out if there is a need or market for an assistive plant care product with finding so few plant assistive products on the market. To better gauge the market we sent out a survey to people who have plants and then followed up with interviews asking them questions about their plant maintenance and if and any struggles.
Goal
The goal and motivation for our product were to assist users that have trouble with maintaining consistent plant care routines as well as plant longevity. The device will aid in ways where users are able to pinpoint where exactly the plant is in need of care. In our creation of Plantify, it was necessary for us to gather research from individuals that owned at least one plant as we were looking to understand how to alleviate the struggles that come with plant care maintenance.
Study Design
Survey/Interviews
We developed a survey to gather quick and vast data to see if there is a maintenance issue for plant owners. After our survey, we each interviewed two people that owned plants and saw a common issue among plant maintenance. Our early research concluded that the top four issues that plant owners struggle with when taking care of plants are:
1. Plant owners frequently needed to look up how to take care of their plants
2. The top two challenges maintaining a plant are watering and sunlight; following not far after is changing the soil, pH levels, and ways to navigate around pet disturbances
3. High dependency on visual representation to understand the status of their plants
4. Plant owners most challenging problem is catching the plant's leaves before they die
2. The top two challenges maintaining a plant are watering and sunlight; following not far after is changing the soil, pH levels, and ways to navigate around pet disturbances
3. High dependency on visual representation to understand the status of their plants
4. Plant owners most challenging problem is catching the plant's leaves before they die
Diary Study
We asked our interviewees if they would participate in a diary study, which is a self-reported study where participants will log pictures of their interactions with their plants during a 3 day period. The findings from the formative study provided us with the research and tools we needed to cultivate the best ways we can aid in plant owners' needs. We found that:
● Clarity: Participants prefer an interactive mobile application that is understandable
● Connectivity: When away from home, users should have the option to stay connected with their plants
● Alerts: People often are forgetful where alerts, reminders, and notifications can help keep track
● Visual Indication: A visual feedback provides users with the accessibility to view the status of their plant
● Reconfirmation: Reconfirmation is important for users to have certainty
● Connectivity: When away from home, users should have the option to stay connected with their plants
● Alerts: People often are forgetful where alerts, reminders, and notifications can help keep track
● Visual Indication: A visual feedback provides users with the accessibility to view the status of their plant
● Reconfirmation: Reconfirmation is important for users to have certainty
Prototyping
We each brainstormed concepts and we picked the solution that was the least intrusive and most scalable. Our team picked the stick idea as it is a standalone smart monitoring device that users can insert into the soil to detect the plant's conditions utilizing a mobile application.
Product Features
Product Features
1. A mobile application to assist with tracking content levels of each plant associated with a device
2. A Plantify content detector for soil density, pH level, acidity, humidity, and soil dryness with an overview for each
3. Provides growing recommendations and plant care solutions from an extensive database
4. WiFi Connectivity through a hub
5. LED RGB light signifier that will flash based on the healthy content levels of the plant
6. Ability to add a guest user with a temporary code
7. Adjust your plant device's information when adding a new device
2. A Plantify content detector for soil density, pH level, acidity, humidity, and soil dryness with an overview for each
3. Provides growing recommendations and plant care solutions from an extensive database
4. WiFi Connectivity through a hub
5. LED RGB light signifier that will flash based on the healthy content levels of the plant
6. Ability to add a guest user with a temporary code
7. Adjust your plant device's information when adding a new device
System Architecture
Initial Setup Process
The system starts with the user. The user accesses the Plantify application on the phone to send their network credentials to the gateway hub and quickly synchronize future Plantify devices. The gateway hub is the central communication hub between the mobile device, Plantify devices, and the outside network.
For the user to connect a Plantify device, all they have to do is push a button on the plantify device and hub to establish the initial "handshake" connection. Once established, they add the device to the particular plant they want to monitor and access it directly on the Plantify mobile application.
Daily Connections
It starts with the user accessing the Plantify application on the phone. Afterward, the phone connects to a WiFi network that has access to the outside network. The hub is taking the information from the Plantify devices and reporting it to a cloud server which the phone accesses. Lastly, the hub is connected to the Plantify servers to collect data for monitoring and outside accessibility.
System Proposal
The device houses a weatherproof device. It has a rechargeable battery, WiFi chip, Processor, RGB LED, Soil sensor, Sync button, and Reset button.
Plantify Wireframes
The majority of the completed user interface has been curated through storyboarding and various wireframing mockups. Each iteration we tested the screens with different participants to gain perspective and feedback on whether or not the interface was intuitive enough and easy to understand.
Key Functions of the Plantify UI
● Notifications and alerts are available for users to maintain tracking receive urgent messages and plant care routines
● Detects the following plant conditions: Soil dryness, pH level, Acidity, Humidity, Soil density
● Gives recommendations to users if it detects any abnormality with the plant
● Has a large database of plants to provide accurate monitoring
● Ability to add as many devices (Plantify) as desired
● Specialize each plan to your liking with its own name, location, custom device ID, and plant type exploration
● Add a guest user through settings and provide guest users with a temporary code
Below are a few high-fidelity wireframes that highlight the different features of the application.
● Notifications and alerts are available for users to maintain tracking receive urgent messages and plant care routines
● Detects the following plant conditions: Soil dryness, pH level, Acidity, Humidity, Soil density
● Gives recommendations to users if it detects any abnormality with the plant
● Has a large database of plants to provide accurate monitoring
● Ability to add as many devices (Plantify) as desired
● Specialize each plan to your liking with its own name, location, custom device ID, and plant type exploration
● Add a guest user through settings and provide guest users with a temporary code
Below are a few high-fidelity wireframes that highlight the different features of the application.
Findings
During this entire project, we learned a lot about how plant owners manage their routines, plant care maintenance, and motivations as to why they plant in the first place. Our team felt that we could achieve substantial quantitative and qualitative data for our project while virtually conducting the project.
Based on the current design, there are a few limitations our team believes should be addressed, such as:
● The size of trying to fit all the sensors needed
● Battery life: How long the battery power will be without having to recharge because of the WiFi connection?
● If the device is used outdoors in public, how do we prevent theft and increase security?
● What occurrences would the device have when damaged (ex: alerts on the mobile applications)?
● How does the device address plant disturbances?
Overall Insights
● The size of trying to fit all the sensors needed
● Battery life: How long the battery power will be without having to recharge because of the WiFi connection?
● If the device is used outdoors in public, how do we prevent theft and increase security?
● What occurrences would the device have when damaged (ex: alerts on the mobile applications)?
● How does the device address plant disturbances?
Overall Insights
While completing the prototyping and video process, we learned those plant owners typically care for low-maintenance plants and prefer to stray away from high-maintenance plants. The users who assisted with the user enactments strongly preferred several confirmations to help with their plant care. Assuming there has been a rooted fear of plant deaths, this could be the cause.
Future Iterations
All in all, we hope that the future interactions of this project will include the addition of detecting humidity, light, and a pH sensor for more excellent monitoring. Additionally, we would make a solution to give users the ability to swap out different length soil sensors for various pot depths.
Because our design product consists of two main components: the mobile application and the device, we would want to add more screens/interactions to the mobile application and a way to ping the device on the mobile application when necessary.
On the other hand, for the hardware aspect of our design, we want to answer the following questions:
● Should the battery life be rechargeable/replaceable? How would the user replace the battery or recharge it?
● How can we implement a better monitoring system as WiFi does not need to be constant?
● Should the battery life be rechargeable/replaceable? How would the user replace the battery or recharge it?
● How can we implement a better monitoring system as WiFi does not need to be constant?
Gathering more data and research would assist with these ideas and claims to collect in future methods. We are excited to see what the future holds for Plantify and further iterate plant owners' opportunities!
Below is a video of our product demonstration.
Below is a video of our product demonstration.
Plantify product demonstration
